The court decision's focus was on the agency's use of categorical exclusions, which traditionally have been used by the Forest Service to approve a variety of small projects running the gamut from repairing culverts to doing minor cleanup work in campgrounds.
"The decision could suspend 100 or more projects under way in the Northern Region," Regional Forester Gail Kimbell said in a news release. "Projects conducted by contract, permit or other means - like reducing hazardous fuels, improving wildlife habitat, repairing roads, fixing a toilet and even cutting firewood - could be affected."
"Hopefully by next week we will know which projects are affected," said Paula Nelson, a media officer with the agency's Northern Region.
Until then, all projects approved under a categorical exclusion between July 7 and Sept. 16 are on hold. In the future, such projects will require public notice, 30-day public comment periods and up to 105 days for appeals.
Nearly every district in the region is affected.
For instance, the decision puts two small timber sales on the Bitterroot National Forest's Sula District on hold.
The district had completed marking out a salvage sale that would have harvested dead Douglas fir trees on about 250 acres on both sides of U.S. Highway 93 on the Bitterroot side of Lost Trail Pass.
"We'd hoped to capture the value of that material," said Sula District Ranger Tracy Hollingshead. "The contracts were about to be advertised. It was marked and ready to go ... it's an opportunity for a small timber producer that won't happen now."
The Little Lyman project would have treated 247 acres in an area burned in 2000 and now filled with trees killed by bark beetles and infested with mistletoe, said Hollingshead. The proposed project also included "a lot of reforestation planting. That will not occur now," she said.
The project in California that spawned the court case was approved under a categorical exclusion as hazardous fuels reduction.
The original ruling was made July 7 and the Forest Service initially interpreted it to mean it would be applied only in the District of California. The judge later clarified the ruling ordering the agency to apply it nationwide.
Environmental activists complained that the agency was abusing the process after two additional categorical exclusion categories were added in 2003 that allowed for salvage of dead or dying trees on areas up to 250 acres and thinning up to 1,000 acres.
"We are actively pursuing options in light of this nationwide ruling, including working with the Department of Justice," Kimbell said. "In the meantime, we will notify our contractors, permittees and partners that work approved under the categorical exclusions must stop."
The suit was filed by the Sierra Club, Earth Island Institute, Sequoia Forestkeeper, Heartwood and the Center for Biological Diversity.
"The ruling is profoundly significant given current trends within the Forest Service to marginalize, ignore and prevent citizen participation, in violation of the 1992 Appeals Reform Act," said Jim Bensman, Heartwood Forest Watch coordinator in a press release. "Congress passed a clear law requiring the Forest Service to allow public participation in the management of the national forests. We will continue to demand that the Forest Service not violate that law."
Reporter Perry Backus can be reached at 523-5259 or at pbackus@missoulian.com
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